Ryan Hale

Ryan T E Hale was born and raised in Ohio, until college when he stepped through a Rift and landed in a world of infinite possibilities. While completing Bachelor's and Master's degrees, becoming an ordained minister, husband and father of four, he still made time to play RPG's.

And the hits just keep on coming! The party descends into the second level of the dungeon. More strange creatures await, and the mystery of the doors grows.

What the audio doesn’t convey, unfortunately, is how everyone’s eyes light up when they get to roll a big handful of ten-sided dice. And though difficult to explain, the Silvervine combat system is very intuitive once things get rolling.

SV Session 3.3

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Oh, and Matt still hasn’t gotten the joke about his “short staff.” (Snicker)

The dungeon-crawl continues. Will Powers, Squirmy, Bonsai, and Professor Mora press on as they search answers to the mystery of these caverns far beneath the city of Rumi. Oh, and Squirmy finds some new clothes.

SV Session 3.2

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Again, my favorite line comes from Mike (aka Squirmy): “It’s like a really long fiber-optic camera . . . with a bad lense.”

Find your minis! Grab all your d10’s! Bring some food for the GM (if you want your character to live)! And join us in the dungeon again. It’s time for Silvervine!

That’s right, we finally got together for the next segment of our series of epic adventures. This time, we’re all-in for a classic dungeon crawl, Silvervine style. So sit back, strap in, and grab your dice; ’cause it’s time to roll!

SV Session 3.1

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My favorite line from this episode? Once again provided by Mr. Squirmy: “I turn into a baby caterpillar and beg for mercy.”

Okay, the lamenting may be a bit much. In truth, the fault is mine. I deleted a very important e-mail from Matt, resulting in a series of miscommunications between he and I, and therefore this post is getting up rather late. My most sincere and humble appologies. Nonetheless, here it is, a quick overview of the mechanics of the Silvervine Games system.

Silvervine Primer

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This should give you the background information as you follow along with the campaign audio podcasts.

Gaming NewsComments Off on Table Top with Wil Wheaton on Geek and Sundry

Apr022012

So I JUST finished the first episode of Table Top. It was pretty awesome. Kinda “World Poker Tour” meets D&D. Way to go Wil!

And I must say, that I LOVE the whole Geek & Sundry concept – everything about their business plan, etc. Felicia Day will one day own us all. Network and cable television, you have officially been put on notice.

Well, here it is, the last episode from our second session in the Silvervine campaign. I appologize for the lack of humor and action. I did have a fight ready to go, but it was just too much fun following what the players were doing. So consider this a “behind the scenes look” at shared world-building. In this episode, the “heroes” hire some employees for their newly acquired tavern, and we discuss possible future plot hooks. I do hope you are entertained and enlightened and disturbed.

SV Session 2.3

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It seems a little chaotic, but that is how I like to run a game; and I find such a technique highly successful too. It avoids the dreaded “GM Railroad” and gives the players more control. Essentially, I create several plot hooks, and see which ones the players nibble on. With each plot hook I brainstorm several possible outcomes that the PC’s are likely to take, and then I create even more options from there. That might sound like a lot of extra work, but it isn’t. Whatever plot hook or adventures the PC’s don’t take now can still be used later – sometimes as-is, sometimes just slightly “re-skinned” or modified.

Bounty Hunt – from the bulletin board at the other tavern (this one ties into Bonsai’s character-arc)

Monster Hunt – also from the bulletin board, this is more about exploring the world and creatures of Cyrus

Mechanist Machinations – also from the bulletin board; a favor-within-a-favor adventure

Sob Stories – they hear tales of woe from customers and try and help (think Knight Rider or Person of Interest)

Will’s Mentor – dragon elves are supposed to have mentors, Will lost contact with his long ago . . .

Political Shake-Up – Why was Professor Mora “fired”?

As you can probably tell, some of the above are more fleshed-out than others. And for each one there is at least two outcomes based on success or failure. Some even have multiple middle-ground possibilities. The key is to think “What thingSare likely to happen?” rather than “What do I think would be cool?” The “S” on “things” is intentionally highlighted. Consider multiple possibilities; consider the interests of each player and the potential development of each character. Some adventures are likely to favor or spotlight one character over the others. This is fine, so long as each player has his/her turn as the campaign progresses.

Also, we haven’t yet gotten together for our third session. So next week I might just do a podcast on the Silvervine system itself so that those not familiar with the system can follow along with the mechanical jargon. So stay tuned and keep rolling!

This week’s episode does a lot of jumping from “in-character” playing and “out of character” conversation. Granted, much of that conversation is about the game itself as we try to figure out just what in the heck we want to do (and there is a bit of character development); so I apologize for the lack of awesome action. But, the group does have a meeting with the Lord-Mayor of Rumi, which will open up all sorts of adventure possibilities.

Oh, and never mind the shuffling sound towards the end; that’s just Danny playing with his deck. (Snicker)

SV Session 2.2

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So what is the next step for the group? Do they put the “Writ of Theft” to use? Stay tuned and find out in next week’s episode!

Comment Poll: What’s your favorite line from this week’s episode?
1. “Well gentlemen, as your GM, I have no firckin’ idea what to do next!” – Ryan

In this, the first episode of our second session, I discover the what happens when I, as the Game Master, don’t have a strict railroad for the players to follow. I had no adventure plan going into this session. I did have about half-a-dozen ideas for bringing Danny’s character (later named Professor Mora) into contact with the others, but none of them were very fleshed-out. I floated even briefer descriptions of those options before the group, and got a feel for which direction the group would have the most fun with. The rest I completely ad-libbed. Seriously, I came up with each scene, each NPC, on-the-fly. Some call this “reactive” GM’ing. Some call it “winging it.” Some call it lazy. I call it a lot of fun! Beyond the meet-and-greet, and bringing Danny up to speed on the rules and the game-so-far, I had no goals, no real “tasks” for the group to accomplish. Any and all of that was provided by the players. I’m not bragging. If anything, I’m trying to place the blame on them.

SV Session 2.1

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I really love Silvervine’s emphasis on “shared story telling.” And I greatly enjoy working with the players to build the world together. Silvervine’s Cyrus setting leaves a lot of room for GM’s and players to create – It gives enough background, history and structure, with a lot of openness for each group to make the game their own. So come back next week for our next episode and experience just how little control I maintain. And I’ve got to say, I am really impressed with everyone’s role-playing skills. Mike, Danny, and Matt are all veterans, but it had been quite a while since any of us had really been around a table like this – especially for Danny who couldn’t make it to the first session. It’s just amazing how well each of them really expressed their characters (especially if you knew how little they put into their backgrounds).

Oh! And don’t forget. Please place your vote for your favorite phrase of the campaign so far. In the comments just tell us which you prefer – “Cabbage-Banana-Hammock” or “Retarded Etch-a-Sketch.”